Assignment 1

This assignment should be handed in on Thursday September 18th, either in hard copy or by email. Note: you should be sure to write as clearly as possible, providing justification for the points you make. Read what you have written before handing it in!

Input in Language Acquisition

In order to answer the first question, you will need to read the chapter 'The Invention of Language by Children: Environmental and Biological Influences on the Acquisition of Language' by Gleitman and Newport.

1. According to Gleitman and Newport, there seem to be close parallels in the linguistic attainment of Genie, who received no language input before aged 13 but then received extremely rich input, and deaf children who construct 'Home Sign' languages. Briefly state the parallel(s). Do you find this surprising or unsurprising? How could we try to explain the parallel(s)?

In order to answer the remaining questions, you will need to read parts of the chapter 'Language Acquisition' by Pinker in the Gleitman and Liberman book, particularly sections 6.4 onwards.

2. What is meant by the term negative evidence, and when is it supposed to be relevant to learners?

3. (Shamelessly lifted from Pinker's chapter) Which of the following would, and would not, count as negative evidence? Justify your answers.

a. Mother expresses disapproval every time Junior speaks ungrammatically.

b. Father often rewards Junior when he speaks grammatically and often punishes him when he speaks ungrammatically.

c. Father repeats all of Junior's grammatical sentences verbatim and converts all his ungrammatical sentences into grammatical ones.

d. Mother blathers incessantly, uttering all of the grammatical sentences of English in order of lengthÑall the two-word sentences, then all the three word sentences, and so on.

e. Whenever Junior speaks ungrammatically, Mother responds by correcting the sentence to the grammatical version. When he speaks grammatically, Mother responds with a follow-up that merely recasts the sentence in different words.

4. How, according to Pinker, might children recover from typical overgeneralization errors like "It breaked" and "I'm going to fill some water into it?"